Donn Conner Fendler was born in Rye, New York on August 29, 1926. At the age of 12, he went on a hike with a group that included his father and brothers up Mount Katahdin in Maine. Bad weather struck and he became lost. He spent nine days wandering around in the wilderness until he found civilization. He wrote an account of his adventure with Joseph B. Egan entitled Lost on a Mountain in Maine. He received the Army and Navy Legion of Valor medal, recognizing him as the outstanding youth hero of 1939. In 1944, he enlisted in the Navy and served as a Seabee in the Pacific theater during World War II. He studied forestry at the University of Maine for two years and briefly attended the University of Georgia before making a career in the Army. He trained as a Green Beret and served in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. He was posted to West Germany in 1962. With the rank of lieutenant colonel, he later assumed command of a battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He retired in 1978. In 2011, he told his story in a graphic novel entitled Lost Trail scripted by Lynn Plourde and illustrated by Ben Bishop. He died on October 9, 2016 at the age of 90.